Champion ability
Abilities are what champions use on the Field of Justice. The unique nature of a champion's abilities set them apart from the other champions. A champion's abilities also determine the champion's role in his or her team, how the champion should be played, and what items, runes, and masteries should be gotten to maximize effectiveness. Summoner spells are not abilities. and are the only non-champions to utilize abilities. Archetypes Every champion has at least five unique abilities. Four of these abilities are learned over the course of a battle using ability points, and the fifth is an Innate Ability. One ability point is granted to every champion at the start of a game, and another point is earned by each champion every time they level up. A champion can level up individual abilities by spending subsequent ability points in those abilities which they have already learned. Basic Ability: All champions feature three basic abilities, which are available from level 1 to a maximum of five ranks. Basic abilities cannot be ranked higher than half the level of the champion (rounded up), meaning a new rank is available every odd single-digit level, and requiring level 9 to max any individual skill. * basic abilities and can be ranked six times. * has no ultimate ability, featuring only four basic abilities. * , , , , and each have six basic abilities. ** and have a total of six basic abilities including their upgraded forms, but the upgrade is permanent and replaces the standard ability. Innate Ability: A champion’s innate ability (commonly referred to as a passive) passively affects the champion for the entire match. Every champion has one, and these abilities cannot be improved with ability points gained on level-up, although they may scale with level. Some innate abilities are constant (e.g. ), while others require action to be taken and may also have a cooldown (e.g. ). * Some innate abilities have multiple effects, with holding the record at four. Ultimate Ability: A champion's fourth and feature ability is their ultimate. Summoners cannot invest skill points into their ultimates until at least champion level 6 and cannot again until levels 11 and 16, to a maximum of three ranks. * , , , , , and each have two ultimate abilities. ** Including their upgraded forms, and also have two ultimate abilities. However, as previously mentioned, these will replace the standard forms permanently. * , and each have three ultimate abilities (four if you include the toggle, but in all cases this skill otherwise does nothing by itself). * , , , and are the only champions with access to their ultimate abilities at level one. Each, except Jayce, may invest skill points into their ultimates at levels 6, 11 and 16, allowing it to reach rank 4. * cannot be ranked past its innate first rank, and can only be ranked twice, at levels 6 and 11. , and , with two ultimates and six basic abilities each, hold the record for the most abilities on a single champion. Ability types * Active ability: This is the most abundant type of ability, having a one-time use effect, and are subject to a cooldown before they are available for use again. ** On-hit effect: On-hit effects will trigger on a champion's autoattacks, but also some abilities. ** Apply on-hit effects: These abilities are classified as autoattacks, and will apply on-hit effects'' instead'' of on-ability effects. To emphasize: these abilities do not apply spell vamp or . *** *** *** (apply on-ability effects too) *** (can critically strike, classified as a melee attack) *** *** (two times) *** (both hits) *** (two or three times, according to his Fury) *** (two times, and to all targets hit in dragon form) *** (on every target hit, can critically strike) *** (up to 5 times, applies life steal despite being magic damage) *** (on-hit effects are applied to the first enemy hit) ** Barrage ability: A type of ability that can be cast several times and without mana cost before going on full cooldown. There is brief cooldown between multiple casts (generally - seconds, 2 for ) and if too much time is waited the additional casts are lost. *** can be cast 3 times. *** can be cast again for 20 seconds after killing the target, can be cast multiple times. *** can be cast 4 times. *** can be cast 4 times. *** can be cast 2 times or 3 times if he has chosen to evolve this ability. *** can be cast 3 times. *** can be cast 3-5 times, with an additional shot per rank. ** Self-Buffs: These are abilities that grant passive effects once activated. These effects last either a fixed amount of time, such as , or last until a one-off component has been used, such as . ** Stocked: '''These abilities have an extremely low cooldown but rely on "stock" to use. Stock is generated over time and there is a capacity unique to each skill to how many stocks can be stocked. When the ability is used, it uses up 1 Stock. Cooldown reduction affects the time at which stock is generated. *** holds up to 3 charges. *** holds up to 2 charges. *** holds up to 3-5 charges, depending on rank. *** holds up to 7 charges. *** holds up to 3 charges. *** holds up to 1-3 charges, depending on rank. *** holds up to 3 charges. *** holds up to 2 charges. *** holds up to 2 charges. *** holds up to 2 charges. * '''Passive ability: These abilities are passive abilities that have persistent effects, and do not need to be activated per se. However, some passive abilities are unavailable under specific conditions, such as while the ability is on cooldown (e.g. ) or upon taking damage (e.g. ). The ability will be activated again as soon as the specific condition has passed, i.e. the ability is off cooldown, or no damage has been taken for a certain amount of time. These are often compared to innate abilities. Some active abilities may have a passive component, whether or not it is related to the active component (e.g. has unrelated passive and active components). * Toggle ability: These abilities are used by activating them and remain active with persistent effects until they are deactivated. The toggling of an ability is not considered an activation, for the purposes of or , but mana consumption of toggled abilities will stack . ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Special toggles: These abilities are listed as being toggles, but have their own set of conditions: these abilities do count as activating an ability, and will toggle-off automatically if the champion moves too far away. *** (will also toggle-off if she's disrupted) * Stance ability: A type of ability currently unique to . Each stance has an individual cooldown and a shared global cooldown. Every stance provides an effect that lasts as long as the stance is active as well as an activation effect. ** and are described as stances in their ability descriptions, and function like stances in that only one can be active simultaneously. ** has a global cooldown on her basic abilities, and activating an aura will replace another if one is active. ** and use a stance system. Attributes Abilities have certain attributes that determine how they are used in game. These attributes include area, cooldown, cost, effect, and range. * Cooldown: All abilities have a cooldown, a length of time after the use of the ability in which the ability cannot be used again. Cooldown reduction reduces this time, to a maximum of 40% reduction (45% with ) of the ability's initial cooldown. ** Some champions have abilities that refresh/reduce the cooldown period. ** Some abilities have a secondary active function. The ability goes on cooldown after the secondary function has been triggered or the window for triggering it expires. * Cost: Most abilities, but not all, have a specific cost associated with them. Generally abilities cost mana, though some champions use health, energy, or other resource mechanics. When the ability is used, the champion loses the cost of the ability. If the champion has less than the cost of the ability, the ability cannot be used and its HUD icon changes color. Some champions do not use a resource, and as such, all their abilities have no cost. * Range: The range of an ability determines how far away a target can be and still take the effect of the ability. This range generally does not appear on in-game tooltips, but placing one's cursor over the ability will display the range and targeting for that ability. Some abilities have global range, meaning their range includes the entire map. * Targeting: All abilities which affect a unit other than the champion casting it are targeted in some way. If an ability has a specific target it will hit, it is referred to as targeted. Other forms of targeting are referred to by their type: ** Area of Effect (AoE) abilities can affect more than one target in an area. The affected area is generally circular, but conic or linear areas are also possible. Certain abilities, such as and Aatrox's Blades of Torment, may have completely unique areas of effect. ** Skillshots are projectile-based abilities, generally cast in a line away from the champions location, which only affect targets the projectile collides with. ** Click-on abilities require a target and vision of it to cast. Most of these abilities are to either apply a buff or to use a strong projectile to assault the target. A simple click is all that is needed to start casting a Click-on at a target * Cast time: While most abilities have either an instant cast time or a slightly delayed instant cast of seconds, there are several which prevent the caster from taking any other action while the ability is cast. Most of those, called channeled abilities, can be interrupted, either by the caster or by any form of Crowd Control (excluding Slows, Snares, and Blinds) applied by an enemy unit. Effects :See Category:Advanced attributes#Abilities Every ability has an effect. These effects vary widely, but can generally be broken down as follows: * Buffs: Increase the target's statistics while active. Passive and Toggle abilities are most likely to have this type of effect. Active abilities which give buffs have higher bonuses than passives or toggles due to their limited duration. Some champions have area of effect buffs for nearby allies, referred to as auras. * Debuff: Negative status effect given to a champion, minion or monster that negatively impacts their combat performance in some way. Debuffs can reduce the target's statistics, cause damage over time or trigger status effects and/or damage (e.g. debuffs an enemy champion and is triggered if an allied champion damages the target). * Crowd Control: This category includes all effects that reduce the fighting ability of enemy units. The page includes a table with notes on each. * Damage: Offensive abilities that deal damage. This damage can be either physical, magic, or true, and generally procs spell vamp, unless the description states it applies on-hit effects. Most damage-dealing abilities scale with a champion's attack damage, ability power, or both. A few scale with other stats, such as current or maximum mana and current or maximum health. Some abilities deal damage over time. * Damage Reduction: Reduces damage dealt to the target for the duration. This damage reduction does not apply to true damage and applies before reduction from armor or magic resistance. * Gold: Gives champions more gold than the base rate, either over time or on kill. * Healing: Heals a target. Healing generally scales with ability power. Support champions are most likely to have healing abilities, and are the only ones to have healing abilities which target a champion other than themselves. Several non-support champions have abilities that heal only themselves. * Immunity: Prevents certain types of crowd control from affecting the target, which is usually the champion using the ability. * Invulnerability: The target cannot be damaged for the duration. Currently, only , , and effects provide invulnerability. * Movement: Moves the champion or the champion's target from place to place. This can be a dash or a blink. Many of these abilities allow a champion to move through otherwise solid obstacles/terrain in a similar manner to the summoner spell . * Resurrection: Brings target back to life if reduced to below 0 health, though other conditions may apply. * Shield: Absorbs a certain amount of damage for the target, in place of losing health. * Stealth: Target becomes unseen and untargetable until revealed or duration expires. The page contains further information, including means of detecting stealthed champions. * Untargetable: The champion cannot be targeted by abilities for the duration, but existing damage over time will still be applied. Champions in are both untargetable and invulnerable. de:Fähigkeiten es:Habilidad de campeón fr:Compétence pt-br:Habilidade zh:英雄技能 Category:Gameplay elements Category:Abilities Category:Champions